National Trust burn trees for power

The Trust said it planned to invest a total of £35 million in green energy projects and would save about £4 million each year as a result.

The National Trust is to power dozens of its properties by burning trees from its own woodland, under plans to switch to green energy and boost its coffers.

The charity said it planned to install renewable energy projects at 43 of its sites in an attempt to generate 50 per cent of its power from green sources by 2020 – up from just 4 per cent now.

Biomass boilers, which burn wood chips, will be installed at nearly 30 properties – primarily “big mansions in the countryside that gobble up a lot of oil”, Patrick Begg, the National Trust’s Rural Enterprises Director, said. The charity would “self supply” the biomass where possible and had identified suitable woodland that could be used, he said.

The new boilers, which will be eligible for subsidies funded by all energy consumers, would cut the Trust’s use of fuel oil – which is costly and bad for the environment – by 90 per cent.

The plans also include installing hydroelectric schemes at a dozen sites. These will primarily sell the electricity they produce to the National Grid through a newly-created energy trading company.